Aircraft
ACMG Sees Freighter Demand Accelerating
Twenty-year forecast predicts need for 125 additional freighters a year
A DHL Boeing 767 freighter takes off from San Jose, Costa Rica. (Photo: Flickr: Creative Commons (BY-SA) by berkuspic)
A DHL Boeing 767 freighter takes off from San Jose, Costa Rica. (Photo: Flickr: Creative Commons (BY-SA) by berkuspic)

As demand for freighter aircraft continues to trend higher, the air freight market will need about 125 new freighters per year to meet growth and replacement needs over the next 20 years, according to forecast issued Tuesday by global consultancy Air Cargo Management Group. ACMG’s forecast for 2015 assumes a “baseline-growth” scenario, which uses a 4.5-percent annual growth rate in freight ton kilometers (FTKs). The projection compares favorably to the average of 95 freighters (production units and passenger-to-freighter conversions) added per year from 1990 to 2014.